Improvement in metallic seals



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

CHRISTIAN G.ISCHNEIDER, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

IMPROVEMENT, IN METALLIC SEALS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 186,170, dated January 9, 1877 application filed August 25, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN G. SCHNEI- DER, of the cit-y and county of Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in M'etallic Seals, whereof the following is a full, clear, and exact description, referring to the drawings illustrating my invention, in Which- Like letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures.

' Figure 1 is a perspective view of the wire, with the seal shown in position. Fig. 2 is a view, in elevation, of the complete seal ready to be applied, the soft-metal body being in section, so as to show the several parts of the wire in position therein. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the seal after being applied. Fig. 4 is a view of a modification.

In metallic seals as heretofore constructed, one end of the wires, after the seal had been applied, could very easily be so withdrawn from the soft-metal ball or body as tovery slightly, if at all, deface or mar said body, so that the seal could be fraudulently removed and replaced without immediate detection. It is the object of this invention to so construct a seal that this cannot be possible; and, to this end, the invention consists in a seal for use on baggage, cars, packages, and other articles, composed of a wire bow-shackle or loop, having a bar formed near one end, on the extremity of which bar is an eye, the other end of said wire being provided with two or more knots, and a body of soft metal being cast around the bar and the adjacent parts of the wire, with a tapered opening through it, into which said eye projects, and through which the knotted end of the wire is passed when the seal is being applied, the metal body being compressed around the wire in completing the sealing.

A represents a piece of wire of one or more strands. Near one end this wire is twisted into a bar, a, at right angles thereto, with an eye, b, on its end. At or near the other end of the wire two or more knots, c c, are formed.-

Around the bar a. and the adjacent parts of the wire is cast, in any suitable mold, a disk or dat body of soft metal, as lead, lettered d in the drawings, and at this casting a hole, e, is made in the disk, the lower end f of which is tapering. The eye b projects into this hole, and in applying the seal the knotted end of the wire is bent around and threaded through the hole, and of course passes through the eye, and out at the tapering end, in such mauner as to bring a knot, c, on each side of the eye. By means of any suitable press the body or disk d is now compressed, and at the same time the eye b is flattened, so as to tightly embrace the wire between the knots, and in such manner as that any attempt to pull the knotted end of the wire from the seal or disk will so deface or mar such disk as to render its restoration to prevent detection impossible. Neither can the other end of the Wire be withdrawn, as the bar a lies in about the center of the disk, and forms a cross-piece, any eort to remove which would totally destroy the disk.

It will thus be seen that any dishonest or fraudulent endeavors at removing these seals from articles to which they are applied, with the intent of replacing or restoring them in such condition as to escape notice of such efforts having been made, are impossible, for the reason that the soft-metal seal or disk which bears the sealing-marks would be defaced past restoration, as before stated.

In Fig. 4 I have shown one end of the wire crimped or formed zigzag, as a substitute for the knots, but I believe that the knots will be found best, as they aord more prominent shoulders for meeting the eye b, and preventing the withdrawing of the wire.

Where three or more knots are made, the lower one will be at or near the end of the tapering part of the opening e, and thus serve as an additional means of defacement.

The object in making the orifice e with the tapering end f is to overcome any sharp angles or shoulders therein, against which the end of the bow would strike, and thus retard threading it or applying the seal, the said tapering, in this construction, permitting the easy, rapid, and unobstructed passage through of the wire. If desired, the orifice may be made tapering throughout.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a sealing device, thc bow or shackle thereof, provided with knots, and a loop or eye, b, and locked within a sealing-disk, substantially as described.

2. In a metallic seal, the combination of a loop or eye, b, a knotted bow or shackle, and a sealing-disk, substantially as desired.

3. The combination, in a seal, of a bow or loop, having a cross-bar and eye, and one or more knots, with a sealing-disk, substantially as described.

4. In a baggage or other seal, the sealingdisk, made with a tapering threading hole or orilce, substantially as described.

5. In a baggage or other sealing device, the shackle or bow, constructed with a cross-bar terminating in an eye, substantially as and for the purpose described.

tially as described. 1

7. The combinationiof `a shackle wire orf i loop, a knot or knots thereupon, a cross-bar,` 1` an eye on said shackle, and a soft-metal sea1` ,y

ing-disk, substantially as described.

To the above specification of my invention g I have signed my name this `24th day of Anl gust, A. D. 1875. y

GHRISTIAN"`G. SCHNEIDER. Witnesses: y

H. O. N oms,

J onN T. O. CLARK. 

